# Plane waves

1. Feb 23, 2006

### Ratzinger

I would like to see some nice visualizations of plane waves. Has anyone a nice link or knows a book where to find such?

For EM waves the perpendicular E and B vector span a plane at each instant of time, right?

What if there would be only an electric field wave. Would there be also a planes, i.e. are there many electric field vectors aligned next to each other at each point in time?

2. Feb 23, 2006

### Staff: Mentor

Maybe posting #6 in this thread will help:

I don't think it's possible to have a wave of E without an accompanying wave of B. According to Maxwell's equations, a changing E field automatically produces a B field, and a changing B field automatically produces an E field.

3. Feb 23, 2006

### Tide

Yes, it is possible to have an electric field wave with no magnetic field so long as $\vec k \times \vec E = 0$, i.e. the waves are longitudinal. Such will occur in plasmas (electron plasma waves, ion acoustic waves, etc.).

Last edited: Feb 23, 2006
4. Feb 23, 2006

### Ratzinger

Thanks for replying. I also found something.

http://www.cs.brown.edu/stc/outrea/greenhouse/nursery/physics/emwave.html [Broken]

neat

Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2017